Hank Hill
Henry Rutherford '"'Hank" Hill is the main protagonist King of the Hill. Hank, along with his family (wife Peggy, son Bobby, and niece Luanne), has a central role in most story lines. Hank's voice is provided by series co-creator Mike Judge. The Economist briefly mentioned him as one of the wisest people on television. Hank Hill, born April 19, 1957, stands 6'2" (1.88 meters) in height and his weight has varied throughout the show from 190 lbs to 220 lbs. Among King of the Hill characters, Hank bears one of the more noticeable resemblances to Tom Anderson, a character on Mike Judge's previous animated series, Beavis and Butt-head. The similarities in both voice and (to a slightly lesser extent) physical appearance between Hill and Anderson are especially noticeable when comparing early King of the Hill episodes to "Beavis and Butthead"'s final episodes or movie. Hank also inherited much of Tom's serious, conservative personality; the differences, however, reflect the differences in tone between the two series. Unlike Tom, a senior citizen whose grumpiness was typically as absurd as his antagonists' stupidity, Hank's humorously no-nonsense attitude makes him a sympathetic voice of reason within the series. He also expresses a love of propane, similarly to Anderson's admiration of butane which ironically Hank sees as an inferior gas. Hank is known to kick people's asses who have ticked him off with or without saying " I'm gonna kick your ass." Hank drives a red Ford F-250 Super Duty (1997-2008) and a red Ford F-250 (2009-2010). Character History Hank, (born Hank Rutherford Hill) was born in April 1957, in the ladies room located in Yankee Stadium in New York City, NY to Matilda Mae "Tillie" and Cotton Hill. He originally thought his birthplace was in Texas, but on his quest to get a "Born In Texas" liscence plate, he uncovered his lost birth certificate, stating he was born in New York much to Hank's dismay. Along with Bill Dauterive, Jeff Boomhauer, and Dale Gribble, graduated Tom Landry Middle School and later persued secondary education at Arlen High. After graduating Arlen High, Hank applied to the army with his friend, Bill, but he was denied because officials thought he would be unable to relieve himself in a time of stress. He worked at Jean's West during his late teen years and sold a pair of jordash to his future employer, Buck Strickland, of Strickland Propane. Sometime at Arlen High, Hank began a relationship with Peggy Platter who would later become his wife. Personality Hank is often regarded as the wise, hard-working, traditional American. Everybody looks to Hank when they have any seemingly useless, or dull work that needs to be done. On the other hand Hank is easily angered when things don't go his way or when another person breaks something of his. When his dog Ladybird attacked a black repairman working on their heating system, he was accused of being racist, but it was later proven that she is only prejudiced towards repairmen in general, as she knows Hank is usually the one to make household repairs. Hank has briefly worked at Mega Lo Mart as a propane salesman trainee when he lost his job at Strickland Propane. Hank's reserved nature probably resulted from years of verbal abuse from his father Cotton Hill. However, if sufficiently provoked, Hank is just as willing to fight as his father, often proclaiming, "I'm gonna kick your ass!" He is for the most part a staunch conservative (he once said dreamily that he missed voting for Ronald Reagan.) He was initially a huge fan of George W. Bush, but had second thoughts about voting for him because of his weak handshake, and when asked if he would vote for "the other guy," presumable Al Gore, he said "I don't know." He is a Republican, but admires old-school Democrats (such as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson). His dog Ladybird is named after Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson. In one episode, Bobby chose to do a school report on his favorite president, Josiah Bartlet of the dramatic TV series The West Wing. When Hank discovered this, he scolded Bobby (not only because Bartlet is a fictitious character but also because Bartlet is considered to be a typical liberal president on the show), who proceeded to do his report on Ronald Reagan. Hank also has a great amount of respect for former Democratic Governor Ann Richards. He considers his wife his best friend, and feels that physically punishing children is wrong; he is usually verbally strict, but does not usually hit/spank Bobby. Political parties aside, he is very conservative and old-fashioned, naturally thinking everyone shares his sense of right and wrong and being largely ignorant of new trends and view points; several episodes involve him dealing with things like yoga, boy bands, etc. Hank is portrayed as having traditional family values, and he is shown to be uncomfortable with hiring a woman to work at Strickland because she was believed to be too attractive, even though she was overly qualified; instead, he hired a man for shallowly expressing a fondness for the Dallas Cowboys and a blatantly fraudulent adoration for propane. The man was later revealed to be a completely unreliable drug addict. He does, however, share a few progressive values. One of them is his fondness for organic food in the episode "Raise the Steaks". He even goes as far as to defend the hippies, something he seemed somewhat ashamed to do but nevertheless found himself agreeing with them when it comes to natural food. He has also been shown to have fairly moderate views on issues like gay rights and other religions. Hank is an environmentalist (though he distances himself from the movement at large), once lamenting air pollution in Houston, and he opposes the building of McMansions. Despite his apparent naivety to general things, he has been shown to be very clever in various scenarios. These include tricking a crooked lawyer attempting to sue Strickland into making it appear as though he is the one that injured his plaintiff; forcing a veterinarian who was shaking him down on costly and unnecessary treatments for a soldier's cat to approve the cat's file, or Hank would tell the vet's customers about a completely inefficient imaging machine the vet couldn't afford; and getting the see-no-evil parents of a youngster who was bullying him to exert discipline by having Bobby behave exactly like their son towards them. He has shown to have chiroptophobia. When surprised, he reacts with a "BWAAAAAH!". This was used in the title of the episode "Mutual of Omabwah", and "Bwah My Nose." Hank can be rather gullible, as for the past twenty-five years, he was buying cars at sticker price from Tom Hammond's used cars. He has also been tricked because of his relative ignorance concerning drugs or subcultures. Hence he once mistakenly bought vials of crack believing they were fishing bait and in a time of stress took a hit of marijuana because he thought it was a cigarette. He also signed a petition to legalize hemp not knowing that it was to legalize marijuana. He also introduced a woman, who later turned out to be a prostitute, to several business associates. This led her former pimp, Alabaster Jones, to believe he was her new pimp. In "Be True to Your Fool," a flashback reveals that shortly after Hank graduated from high school with his three best friends, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Jeff Boomhauer, Bill enlisted in the United States Army. Hank admired Bill greatly for this decision, to the point that he stumbled drunkenly into a tattoo parlor and asked to have Bill's name inked onto his chest. However, Boomhauer persuaded the proprietor to put the tattoo in a less conspicuous place, the back of Hank's head; Hank had completely forgotten that night, but was reminded of it while undergoing treatment for head lice in the present. He had the name removed out of disgust, but eventually had a jailhouse tattoo of it put on to show Bill that the two were still friends. In nearly every episode, Hank and his friends Dale, Bill and Boomhauer, will stand about in the alley behind Hank's house, drinking Alamo beer and discussing the events of the day. When consensus is reached, or they simply run out of things to talk about, they will give short words of agreement, such as "yup" or "mm-hmm." Quotes *"Excuse me. I would like a tap-in-dye and some WD-40" *"Ok, forget it. Let's say I want a hammer. Do you know what a hammer is? That's what I want, a damn hammer! Now, where in the hell would I go?" *"You're fired!" *"You just talked. Now I let that pass but don't talk again." *"If its get one degree hotter, I'm gonna kick your ass!" *"Loser! You're a loser! Are you feeling sorry for yourself?! Well, you should be because you are dirt! You make me sick, you big baby!" *"Where's the hardware department?" *"Bwaaaaaa!" *"Son, you're teasing the gorilla in the monkey house." *"I sell propane and propane accessories." *"My God, are you still talking?" *"Why is she still talking?" *"Yep." *"So, are you Chinese or Japanese?" *"What, are you... turning into some kind of feminist?" *"What the hell kind of country is this where I can only hate a man if he's white?" *"I've got the strangest feeling someone's gonna kick his ass." *"Why are you always asking me that? What's wrong with you? How does that sound for a change?" *"It's like you got a problem with concentration." *"I just hate these big emotional scenes." *"Stop making such a big deal out of it!" Gallery Trivia *Peggy claims that Hank doesn't like to go to the doctor because he refuses to take off his pants when she and him are unable to make a baby. *In "Sleight of Hank" it's discovered that Hank hates Magicians ever since David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. *He has been arrested five times, with each arrest taking place in a different episode. *Hank is a Methodist. (Won't You Pimai Neighbor?) *Hank has horrible aim when firing a gun, unlike Bobby who is an expert. *Hank was born pre-mature (Yankee Hankee). Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Hills Category:Males Category:Cotton's children Category:Characters by disorders/diseases Category:Strickland Propane Staff